Apparatus for testing hardness of water



May 28, 1940. B. M. KING 2,202,346

' APPARATUS FOR TESTING HARDNESS or WAT R Filed April 17. 1939 b O T o.

ATTO R N EYS Patented May 28, 19 6 1 v v I I I. g z t.

' I APPARATUS Fora TESTINGBHARDN SS OF l WATER, I Burdette M.-'{King,Lancaster, one; I Application April 17,1939, Serial Noise-8. 10s I I I 2Claims. oi. a 253) v I c I This inventionrelates to apparatusforjtesting I intowhich the .waterfto'be tested" is admitted by thehardness of water. c 1 f i drops through apipe H controlled by a valve[2. P'Ilhe :method commonly in use in industrial Mountedin-thezcontaineris a float I3 having a I plantsand city water works, fortesting the stem M which is connected to a movable switch.

'5 hardness ofwater, is to pour 58.4 cubic :centi-I contact I5'whichcoacts with a stationary switch 1 add a: soap solution, that is, soap.andlalcohol, and! to an electric motor l9. s v I I of standard mixture.Thesoap solution is added vA siphon pipe extends from. the containerintermittently in small quantities and the mixit to the top of abeaker'tl disposed below the ture agitated'each timeuntil a lather isformed motor. The lower end ot the motor shaft 22 is; Q r

in the bottle of suificient consistency to remain coupled to thestem 23of a disc impeller 24 v intact for five minutes. The amount ofsoapthrough the medium'of a coupling 25.

metersof water to be tested into a bottle and contact Hi tocontrolacircuit through wires [,1-

solution in cubic centimeters, in proportion to the The upper end 25ofthe motor shaft is equipped I known quantity of water to be testedgives the with a, centrifugal governor comprising a' sub. 15? hardnessof the water in grains per gallon. "stantially-U-shaped base secured atthev center of .In carrying out the invention apparatus has as bottomface-to the upper'en'd. 26 of the motor 7 been devised" which willautomatically perform shaft and provided in one of its upright legswith" v and record. the results of testing'water for harda slot, .28. Asubstantially L -shaped member ness ingrains'per gallon, withoutinvolving the 29 is-pivotly connected tothe slott'ed leg of the.

at human element. I I 1 basemember through the medium of a pivot pin 2QThe; essential feature of the invention, is a Qlipassedthrough'hingeeyes 31 on the long leg motor having a glass impellerimmersed in a of the member and through hinge eyes 32 formed beakerwhich contains the-water to be tested and on the slotted legof th'ebasememb er. A helical into whichsoap solution is gradually pumped, spring33is connectedat one end to the im- 25" and wherein the speed of themotor is retarded perforate upright leg of the base 27 and theiotherfiby the frictionv or dragof the glass impeller in end of the springpasses through the slot need the water; ,As thesoap solution is addedto-the is connected tothe short leg ,of the. L-shaped' water, afew dropsat a time,there.will'be formed member 29. I I I 4 when a definitequantity is added according to II At 'a predetermined speed of the motorI9 cen-' the hardness of the water, a soap emulsion of the trifugalforcewillfovercome .the pull of the spring r '5 of the speed responsiveswitch.

mixture whichcauses a noticeable reduction in 33 on the short leg ofthemember!!! so that the the speed ofthemotor. Aspeed responsivegovlatteris rocked on its pivotto move a circuit ernor connected to the motoroperates acircuit closerarm 34. into circuit 'closing position. Thecloser to stop the "pumping of thesoap solution arm carries :a contact35 'which. coactsiwith a and deenergize a recording device which isoperstationarycontact .36 to control a circuit through: 3 atedsimultaneously with the pumping operation. Wires Hand 38' toan electricmotor '39. The shaft With the above and other objects in view the of the'motor 39 is equipped With a magnetic invention consists oi certainnoveldetails of conclutch do which is; electrically connected in structionand combinations of parts hereinafter parallel with the motorthrough themedium'of fully described and claimed, it being understood circuitwiresu-4 2; r I 40 t various modifications m be so to .The clutch shaft as.terminatesin a gear 44 Wiihin'ihe same of the-appended Claims whichmesheswithia geeras which has a thread r J y abracket '4'! which" issecured to the bottom 4 g fii ilzlzfig f w fqrmmgpart of of a pumpcylinder 48. The piston rod islongi- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic View ofapparatus tudmaufv f q q t receive on e constructed in accordance withthe invention. 9' l i t n l a pump :Figure 2 is a perspective. view ofonemember plston -f9? ingplstqn i a lr of I thecylinderwhen the gear45is rotated. Figure 3 is a perspective View of theother I I e ie Q iQ ismo member of the speed responsive'switch. above the pumpr'cylinderand-isConnected o the "Referringnow to 'thefdrawing in which like top o thecylinder u e d um f a characters of reference designate similar partsheck ValVe Controlled 1 96 0 Va Ve x55 inthe varicus views, itdesignates a container controlled outlet pipe 53fextends from the top ofthe pump cylinder and discharges into the beaker 2| at the top thereof.

When the motor 39 is started by closing of the motor circuit 3'|-38 bythe centrifugal governor controlled circuit closer arm. 34, the magneticclutch 40 will be energized at the same time and rotate the shaft 43 tomove the piston upwardly on its pumping stroke to force soap solutionthrough the outlet pipe 53 into the beaker 2|. When the motor 3|! isdeenergized the clutch 40 will also be deenergized to free the shaft 43so that it may be rotated on its suction stroke to replenish the pumpcylinder from the soap solution container 50, by mechanism which willnow be described.

A drum 54 is fixed to the clutch shaft 43. One end of the cable 53' iswrapped upon the drum and the cable is trained over a guide pulley 54and terminally secured to the weight 55. A chart 55, marked withcalibrations 51 to denote hardness in grains per gallon, is actuated bya clockwork mechanism 58. A stylus 59 is pivoted, as shown at 60, on astationary bracket arm. 6| mounted adjacent to the top of the chart. Apulley 62 is mounted to idle on a pivot 63 carried by the bracket armand a cable 64 for rotating the pulley is secured at one end to the faceof the pulley and at the other end to the weight 55.

A cable 65 is secured at one end to a drum 6| integral with one face ofthe pulley 62 and the other end of the cable is secured to the stylus 59near the pivot 60 thereof. A helical spring 66 is secured stationary atone end in any preferred during the suction stroke of the piston, due to5 that the container ill will not apparatus.

unwinding of the cable from the drum 54, pulls the cable 54 to rotatethe pulley 62 and wind up the cable 55 on the drum 6| to return thestylus to its zero indicating position.

For purging the beaker of a tested quantity of water a siphon pipe 61 isconnected to the beaker.

In operation water to be tested enters through the pipe H, the handvalve I2 being adjusted so fill before the previous sample in thecontainer 2| is tested. This is determined by the time needed to test asample of water which has a hardness greater than any sample will be atthe location of the When water rises in the container E0, the float 53will close the contacts l and i6 and start the motor L), which will runat a free speed. This speed will lower the governor arm and close thecontacts 35 and 36 to the pump motor 39 and magnetic clutch 40. In otherwords the speed of the motor is just fast enough to close the contacts35 and 36. The soap solution from the pump 48 enters the container 2| adrop at a time. very slowly, and is mixed with the previous sample ofwater which has been trapped inthe container 2|. As soap solution isadded there is no noticeable change in the speed of the motor whichstirs this mixture. The ghost point, or a point at which a false latherappears due to natural chemicals in the test sample, is noticeable butdoes not reduce the speed of the motor E9 enough to break the circuit tothe pump and clutch at the contacts 35 and 36.

But when the permanent lather is reached, a marked reduction in speed ofthe motor is produced which permanently breaks the circuit to the pump48 and clutch 40. This circuit is held open by the lather formed whichreduces the speed of the mixing motor, while the container l0 fills upto the siphon 20. Water should be near the siphon 20 because it has beenfilling while the test was made. When the siphon 20 operates, theaddition of water to the container 2| will destroy the permanent lather,but the added water will keep the motor running slowly enough to keepthe circuit of the pump and. clutch open. When the container 2| fills,the siphon 61 will operate but will not siphon water from the container2| as fast as water enters from the siphon 20. Thus some water willoverflow the container 2| and be caught in a drain under it. Due to thecontainer l0 being larger than the container 2| and the mixing motorstill running, a good purge of the sample already tested in thecontainer 2| will result. When the water in the container l0 lowers tothe level of the float 13, the contacts I5 and I6 of the circuit to themixing motor l9 will be broken and the motor will come to rest. Afterthe siphon 20 has drawn air at the bottom of the container I0, thesiphon 61 will level off the sample of water to be tested in thecontainer 2|. After this has taken place, water will be rising in thecontainer IE] to the point where the float l3 will rise and close thecontacts l5 and I6 so that the mixing motor will run fast enough tolower the governor arm and complete the circuit to the pump motor 39 andmagnetic clutch 40 at the contacts 35 and 35. Thus soap solution will befed to the new sample and the container ID will be filling to purge thenext sample.

The stirringmotor I9 is preferably a fractional H. P. inductionnon-synchronous type with a speed of 3000 R. P. M. Therefore, theagitation is very great. There are no brushes and the bearings run inoil, therefore, the speed to'operate the sensitive governor isreproduced the same each cycle because there is practically no motorfriction and the drag of the solution is the same for each test. Thereason for the float |3 being placed so near the bottom of the containeri0 is to shorten the time that the motor I9 is stopped. In other wordsthe float l3 stops the impeller 24 so the test sample will level offbefore the siphon 6'! draws air. The siphon 61 is placed near the bottomof the container 2| so that only a small sample is trapped and thisreduces the quantity of soap solution used to test with. A small testsample will have as much retarding effect on the impeller as a largesample.

There is no noticeable change in the speed of the mixing motor while thesoap solution is being added to the water sample except at the ghostpoint and at the permanent lather point. The central part of theimpeller 24 is not submerged when the liquid is in rotating motion dueto the centrifugal changes of the liquid. As the permanent latherappears the liquid being stirred will slow up in velocity and foam overthe impeller and even change the noise of the mixing motor. When thispermanent lather is formed, there is a marked decrease in the speed ofthe stirring motor.

I have discovered that the small soap bubbles formed retard therevolving action of the mixture which sets up more resistance to therevolving impeller and the forming of these air bubbles is, I believe,caused by the surface tension of the soap film around them. One proof isthat the addition of a very small particle of salt to the permanentlather formed will destroy this lather and let the impeller speed upandyet the other physical properties of this'solution remain practicallythe same. i

From the above description it is thought that the construction andoperation of the inventionv Will be fully understood without furtherexplanation.

What is claimed is: 1

1. In apparatus for' testing the hardness of water, a container, meansfor supplying a meas-' ured quantity of water to be tested to thecontainer, a receptacle for soap solution, a pump connected to thereceptacle adapted to. gradually add soap solution to the water in thecontainer, an electric motor, a speed responsive centrifugal switchconnected to the motor and adapted to be moved to closed circuitposition at a predetermined speed of the motor, an electric motor connected in circuit with said switch and connected to the pump foractuating the pump when the switch-is closed, a recording devicecalibrated to denote hardness in grains per gallon connected to thesecond named motor for actuation thereby simultaneously with theactuations of the pump,

and an impeller in the container connected to the first named motor andresponsive to increasing concentration of soap emulsion in the containerto produce a drag upon and slow up the speed of the first'named motor topermit the centrifugal switch to move to open circuit position and stopthe pump when a predetermined lather consistency occurs in the soapemulsion in thecon- I taine'r.

2. In apparatus for testing the hardness of I water, a'water supplycontainer, means for continuously supplying Water inv minute quantitiesto the container, a siphon pipe for siphoning ofi the water When itreaches a predetermined height in the container, a testing containersupplied with water to be tested by said siphon pipe, a re- 1 ceptaclefor soap solution, a pump connected to the receptacle adapted togradually add soap solution, to the water in the container, an electricmotor, a speed responsive centrifugal switch connected to the motor andadapted to be moved the first named motor and responsive to increasingconcentration of soap-emulsion in the testing container to produce adrag upon and slow up the speed of the first named motor to permit thecentrifugal switch to ;move to open circuit position and stop the pumpwhen a predeter- I mined lather consistency occurs in f the soapemulsion in the testing container, and a siphon pipe for siphoningtested water from the testing container.

, BURDETTE M. KING.

